Once in a while, something comes across our desks that’s too cool not to share, and while this isn’t the latest piece of kit or a new bike, it’s still worth a read. In this case, it’s a book, specifically Allan Karl’s kickstarter funded bundle of coffeetable-tastic adventure-travel-porn, and it’s called Forks.

We got the book in the mail from Allan. It’s imposing, several inches thick and a nice size for reading on your lap while sitting on the couch. As soon as I flipped the book open, I was taken by the photography. Every page is rimmed with Allan’s photos from his trip, and the quality of the pictures is top notch.

Each section starts with a country and some text about riding there, and then there are recipes from each country and great photos of the food as well.

It struck me that Allan’s experience of the trip was equally about the culture of the places he visited as it was about the riding.

Allan’s story started in Southern California, where after a divorce and the sale of his business, he set off on a BMW 650 Dakar which features prominently in the book’s pictures. The book also came with a set of postcards of images from the book. Allan’s favorite, and ours, is a shot of half a dozen llamas being hauled on the roof rack of a Toyota station wagon.

The shot reminded me of one of the reasons I love riding; the adventure of pointing your front wheel down a road you’ve never ridden before, seeing where you end up, and enjoying the sights and scenes along the way. For me the adventure has always been a multi-week overland expedition - South America features prominently in the dream - on a big 1200 GS loaded down with metal gear boxes on either side of the tail. In fact, that’s pretty close to the setup Allan used for his trip.